October 2, 2013

Federal inmates go on strike to protest pay cuts

Inmates in several federal prisons across Canada have gone on strike
to protest against a 30 per cent cut in their pay that took effect this
week.

The government began deducting
the money from
prisoners’ paycheques as part of a move to recover costs under the
federal government’s Deficit Reduction Action Plan. The move was first
announced in May 2012 by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.

Until now, the top pay an inmate could earn was $6.90 a day, but only
a small percentage of inmates received that. The average is $3 a day.

That rate was set up by the government in 1981. It was based on a
review by a parliamentary committee and it factored in a deduction from
inmates for the cost of room, board and clothing at the time.

No increase in three decades

Despite inflation, inmates have not had a pay raise in 32 years, even
though the Correctional Service of Canada's own figures show costs have
risen more than 700 per cent. As well, inmates are now expected to use
their pay to purchase items that the prison no longer provides, such as
soap, shampoo, deodorant, stationery and stamps.

“People are just saying enough is enough, they’re just barely getting
by now,” said John Curcio, chair of the inmate committee at Bath
Institution, a medium security prison west of Kingston, Ont. Inmates
there refused to go to work Tuesday as a protest. “A lot of these guys
send their money home.,” he said. “We can’t help our families or save
for the future.”​

Curcio said the government is double dipping, by deducting 30 per
cent of inmate's pay when it already factors in the cost of room and
board. “We should get a raise instead of a cut.”

He said the Harper government has adopted a “tough on crime approach but what about rehabilitation?”

At Fenbrook Institution, a medium security prison near Gravenhurst,
Ont., inmates also stayed away from work. Greg McMaster, inmate
committee chair, said the prisoners are frustrated and angry about the
cumulative effects of the harsh measures brought in by the Harper
government in recent years.

“They are feeling the crushing effects of longer sentences, double
bunking and now this,” he said. “We’ve had no recreation budget for the
past three years and the infrastructure is crumbling.

“We can’t even afford to bring our families in for a family visit.
And now many of us won’t be able to afford phone contact with our
families,” he said. “It’s just one thing after another.”

According to correctional service figures, the move will save about
$4 million a year out of the total budget of more than $2.6 billion.

'Nickel and dime' changes

Canada’s correctional investigator, the ombudsman for prisons, called the move insensitive and short-sighted.

Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator of Canada and federal ombudsman
for prisons, is critical of the federal government's cut to inmate pay,
saying the move jeopardizes an offender's ability to leave prison with a
bank account.

“My response to the correctional service was that this was really
picking at low-hanging fruit,” said Howard Sapers, who has called in the
past for an increase in inmate pay to reflect modern costs. He called
these latest cuts “nickel and dime” changes that would not generate
much opposition.

“There has been no adjustment in the rate of compensation since 1981
and we all know how much more expensive things have become,”
said Sapers.

“Writing a letter home, sending a birthday card to a child, sending a
Christmas card, being able to buy personal hygiene articles,
non-prescription drugs for inmates who suffer from skin conditions, eye
drops for older offenders … inmates don’t expect the taxpayer to pay
for that, they purchase those themselves but they need to have a source
of funds to purchase them.”

Sapers said the move undermines the idea that inmates should develop a
good work ethic and save for their release. “This really minimizes and
jeopardizes the ability of an offender to come out of prison with any
kind of a bank account whatsoever.”

Along with the pay cut, the correctional service is also eliminating
incentive pay for those prisoners who work for CORCAN, a program in many
prisons where inmates make furniture and other items that are sold on
contracts to government departments and the public. Inmates who worked
at CORCAN were able to earn extra money in order to meet production
quotas. That too has been cancelled.

“I don’t see a valid correctional objective to this, “ said Todd
Sloan, a lawyer who represents several inmate committees in Ontario
prisons. ‘People are basically furious,” he said. “There are people who
have worked for years and years to earn their way (in prison) into a
situation where they can earn some relatively speaking decent wages and
learn a trade and now that is all being thrown out from under them.”

Inmates who spoke to CBC News say they don’t know how long their
protests will continue. While they are on strike, inmates jobs such as
food preparation, administrative support, cleaning and garbage
collection is being done by correctional service staff.

A spokesperson for the correctional service told CBC in an email that
inmates can participate in peaceful protests, but they will not be paid
as long as they are not working or following their correctional
programs.